Baby-carriage.



F. PETERSON & D. R. COLLIER.

BABY CARRIAGE. APPLICATION FILED MAR.31.19!7.

Patented Mar. 11, 1919.

rnsrrnn STATES" PATENT onrron.

FRITHIOF PETERSON .AND DAVID R. COLLIER, F GARDNER, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNOBS T0, COLLIER KEYWORTH COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSA-CHUSETTS.

BABY-CARRIAGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 11, 1919.

Application filed March 31, 1917. Serial No. 158,835.

. have invented new and useful Improvements in Baby-Carriages, of whichthe following is a specification.

the body comprises a.

This invention relates to baby carriages of the type commonly calledperambulators, and its object is to provide a convertible body structurecapable of being adjusted to form a body having a dash, and of beingadjusted to convert the dash into an additional seat, so that thecarriage may be suitable for one occupant in the first instance, andsuitable for two occupants in the latter instance.

The invention is embodied in the present instance in a perambulator ofthecollapsible type such as that illustrated and described in UnitedLetters Patent to Collier, No. 930,044, granted August 3, 1909, and forthat reason many of the collapsible features need not be repeated forthe purposes ofthe present application. cle comprises a seat, a hingedbackrest capable of being folded forwardly and downwardly upon the seat,and hinged sides capable of being foldedvtoward each other anddownwardly upon the back-rest. In addition to the folding back-rest andsides hinged dash that is capable of being folded toward the rear anddownwardly so that it may lie substantially in the same plane as theback-rest when the latter is folded, and underlie the sides when thelatter are folded. The dash and the folding sides have cooperativeelements arranged to be engaged with and disengaged from each other tohold the dash in position tofulfil the function of a dash, but the dashis capable of being converted into a seat. For the latter purpose thefolding sides and dash are provided with cooperative elements that arearranged to be engaged with and disengaged from each other to sustainthe dash in seat-formingposition, the latter said elements serving tolock the hinged sides in operative position as well as to lock thedash-seat in seat-forming position.

On the accompanying drawings that illus- The body of the vchitrate oneform in which the present invention may be embodied: V

Figure 1 represents a vertical section in a plane from front to rear ofa convertible perambulator in which the convertible dash is representedby solid lines inseatforming position.

Fig.2 represents a front elevation of the perambulator showing thedash-seat in dashforming position.

Fig. 3 represents a perspective view including the dash-seat and aportion of one of the hinged sides, the dash-seat being arranged indash-forming position.

Fig. 4 represents a horizontal section through the structure intersectedby line 44 of Fig. 2. V

Fig. 5 represents a section through the structure intersected by line5-;5 of Fig. 2.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts wherever theyoccur.

The running frame of the vehicle comprises a rectangular frame portion10, two hinged portions 11, 11, and wheels 12. The axles of the wheelsare affixed to the hinged portions 11, 11, and the latter are hinged tothe frame portion 10 by hinge pins 13. The axes of the pins 13 extendhorizontally from front to rear so that the sections 11 may swing towardeach other and upwardly under the frame portion 10 as indicated bycurved lines a, a in Fig. 2. For .the purpose of. forming suchconnection between the. sections 11 and the section 10 the latter isprovided with fixtures 14 that extend downwardly in lapped relation tothe .ends of the sections 11. These lapped portions are connected by thehinge pins 13, and the sections 11 are provided with stop pins 15 thatare arranged to abut against the lower ends ofthe portions 14 to limitthe opening movement of the sections 11 and to brace the latter inoperative position. essary to illustrate or describe the means forswinging the sections 11 about their hinges, forthe reason that suchmeans may stantially the same as that shown in said Patent 930,044.

The principal seat of the vehicle is indicated at 16 in Fig. 1. Aback-rest 17 is connected to the seat 16 by a pair of suitable hingessuch as that indicated conventionally It will not be nec be sub-' at 18,said hinges being arranged to enable the back to swing forwardly anddownwardly to folded position as indicated by curved broken line b inFig. 1; The backrest is thus adapted, when folded, to lie upon the seat16.

The body of the vehicle includes hinged sides 20, 20, the lower portionsof which are connected to the frame section by hinge pins 21. For thispurpose the members 14 extend upwardly, as shown by Fig. 2, to take thehinge pins 21. The sides 20, 20 are adapted to swing toward each otherand i downwardly as indicated by curved broken ter in open position. Thesides shown,

lines 0, 0, in Fig. 2, and when they are'folded to collapsed positionone of them lies upon the back-rest, and the other lies upon the onethat lies upon the back-rest. The sides are provided with stop pins 22that abut against the upper ends of the members 14 as shown by Fig. 2,to limit the opening movement and to brace the sides against spreadingstresses. A foot-cowl 23 is provided for the feet of the occupant ofseat 16, and is made of. flexible sheet material such as imitationleather, so that it may be collapsed.

In most respects the vehicle as thus far described is substantially likethat shown in said Patent 930,041, excepting that in the presentinstance the hinged sides 20, 20 extend to the front of the foot-cowl 23instead of extending only to the front edge of seat 16.

The dash is preferably made in two sec tions for the purpose of thepresent invention. One main section of the dash includes a. panel25, andthe otherincludes a panel 26. Each of the two panels is bound andreinforced along three edges by a strip of sheet metal of semicircularchannel cross-section. The reinforcing strip of panel 25 is indicated at27 and the reinforcing strip of panel 26 is indicated at 28. Thecross-sectional shape of said strips is shown by Fig. 4. The endportions 29, 29 of strip 28 are hinged to frame section 10 by hinge pins30, 30, to enable the panel 26 to swing from front to rear anddownwardly as indicated by curved broken line (Z in Fig. 1. lVhen' thiselement of the dash is folded backwardly and downwardly it is adapted tolie upon the front edge of seat 16, and in folding the body of thevehicle it would be preferable to fold the dash to said position beforefolding the back-rest to collapsed position. When it is desired toadjust the panel 26 to dash-forming position, as shown by Figs.2 and 3,and as indicated by dotted lines at e in Fig. 1, it is necessary to openthe sides 20, 20 to operative position as because the d-ashswingsbetween the sides and serves as a spreader to keep the latwith clips 31,31 that are owed as indiare provided cated at 32 in Fig. 4 to recei ethe portions 29 of the strips 28. Then the portions 29 and clips 31 arenested as shown, the clips hold the hinged section of the dash againstmovement about its hinges, and bya reciprocal action the hinged sectionof, the dash holds the sides 20, 20 in open position with the stop pins22 against the upper'ends of fixtures 14, 14. The sides 20, 20 arecapable of springing sufliciently to enable the por tions 29, 29 to moveto and from the position shown by Fig. 4.

Panel 25 of the dash has hinge connection with portions 29, 29, thelatter hinge connection being formed bya rod 33. V The ends of this rodare fastened to portions 29, 29, and the intermediate portion of the rodlies in a groove 34 formed in the front of the panel 25. (See Fig; 5.)That portion of the rod that lies in the groove 34'is concealed by afacing the panel 25is covered. This form of hinge connection ispreferred for the reason that the rod serves to reinforce the panel25when the latter is used as an auxiliary seat as hereinafter explained.Furthermore the ends of the rod are provided with heads, and theportions 29, 29 are thereby tied to each other. g

When the panels 25 and 26 of the dash are in cooperative dash-formingrelation as shown by Figs. 2 and 3 the sides of the reinforcing strip 27are nested in portions 29, 29 as shown by Fig. 4, and panel 25 isthereby held so that it will not be free to swing about the axis of rod33. The portions 29 are capable of being sprung apart between panel 26and rod 33 to enable the reinforcing strip 27 to move to and from nestedrelation, but a considerable force is required to spring them. In orderto increase the ef-' fectiveness' of the portions'29 for-the purpose ofholding the'panel 25 aslast described, the sections 29 are tied togetherby a tie-rod 36. The ends of this tie -rod extend through the portions29 and are, provided with headsas indicated at 37;"The 'tie rod has theadditionalfunction of locking the dash in the channel afforded panel 26of the by strip 28. g

When it is desired to use the panel 25 of the dash to provide'anauxiliary seat the panel 26 will be mo-vedabout hinge pins 30 to theposition represented by solid lines'in Fig. 1. At the same time panel 25will be swung about the axis of rod 33 by moving the upper edgeforwardly and downwardly. A metallic strip 38 is aflixed to the lowermarginal portion of panel 25 by any suitable meanssuch as rivets 39. Theends40, 40

of strip 38 project laterally beyond *portions 29, and are arranged toenter notches 41 formed in looking members 42. There are two suchlocking members 42 and they are the members 4c2 sothat the. end portions40 may enter the notches when moving up.,

, ,wardly. EWhenthe panel 25 is .used -as-a seat the greater portion ofthe load is in front of pivot rod'i33, and consequently the effect ofthe load will .be tofi'for'ce the end portions- 40 upwardly into thenotches. Incidentally to moving the-"panel25'toseatformingposn tionsection 26 is necessarily moved toith position of 'a back-rest, and thestresses encountered by the latter in performing the function of aback-rest are sustained-by the locking members 42. Said locking members,therefore, act to lock the members 29 against movement about the axis ofhinge pins 30, 30 in addition to locking the seat panel against movementabout the axis of rod 33. It is desirable to arrange the locking members42 so that the notches 41 will be inclined as shown, for the reason thatan excessive force from front to rear against the back-rest would tendto force the end portions 40 toward the closed ends of notches 41, thusmaking the locking elements as ef-' fective as possible to preventaccidental disengagement of the ends 40 from the members 42 when theauxiliary seat is occupied. The confronting edges of the notches 41 arepreferably formed in converging relation, and the end portions 40 arepreferably made of such width as to be wedged tightly between suchedges, so that the auxiliary seat will not be too easily detached fromthe locking members. When the strip 38 of the auxiliary seat isinterlocked with the members 42 it acts as a spreader to keep the sides20, 20 open as far as the stop pins 22 will permit.

It is to be observed that the lower edge of the dash section 25 hasconsiderable movement toward the rear when said section is moved fromdash-forming position to seat-forming position. This is due partly tothe fact that the hinge rod 33 is a considerable distance from the loweredge of said section, and is due also to the'fact that said hinge rod iscarried to the rear by the portions 29, 29 when the latter swing to thepo-' sition represented by solid lines in Fig. 1; this movement of theThe significance of auxiliary seat portion'toward the rear is that thedistance from such seat to the axle of the rear wheels is shortened, andthe force required to lift the front wheels by bearing down upon thepush bars 43 is reduced to a corresponding degree.

So far as the function of a dash and the function of aseat areconcerned, the panel 26 is not necessary, the latter being merelysupplemental to panel 25 for the dash-forming purpose, and notindispensable as a back-.rest.; lVe therefore desire to claim ourlnvention without any undue. limitation 111' volving thesin'iplemental'panel 26, excepting the claims'that recite the latter. iV

We-claim '21,. A baby-carriage body-i having a hinged dash supportin'gframe arranged to swing abouta transverse. axis, a ;panel affixed to 1said: frame in a position remote'fro'mlsaid axis, a movable panelarranged in said having hinge connection with each other to enable thesaid panel to tilt relatively to the 7 frame, said frame and saidmovable panel being movable to arrange the latter and the first saidpanel in the relation of a seat and back-rest, respectively, and meansarranged V connection therewith, the axis of saidhinge- ,connectlonbeing parallel to the first said axis, said frame having resilientportions of channel cross-section arranged to embrace edge portionsofsaid panel to hold the latter in one position relatively to said frame,said resilient portions being capable of being sprung to release saidpanel, and meansarranged to hold said frame in one position.

3. A baby-carriage body having hinged sides, a hinged dash arranged toswing about a transverse axis, a portion. of said dash being movablebetween said sides and behind said axis, and holding devices fastened tosaid sides respectively and arranged behind said axis to coact with saidportion to sus- 'tain said dash substantially in a horizontal position.

4. A baby-carriage body having hinged sides, a hinged dash-supportingframe arranged to swing about a transverse axis, two dash-panelsarranged in said frame, one of said panels being fixed to said frame andthe other being movable relatively thereto, hinge-forming meansconnecting said frame and said movable panel, the axis of said 11163113being parallel to the first said axis,

said movable panel and the latter said' axis being between the firstsaid axis and said fixed'panel, said movable panel being movable to asubstantially horizontalposition to serve as a seat, and said framebeing movable about the first said axis to place said fixed panel in theposition of a back-rest relatively to such seat, holding devicesfastened to the confronting faces of said sides, and elements carried bysaid movable panel and arranged to coact with said holding devices tohold said movable panel and said frame in seat-forming relation.

sides, a dash panelydashr-supporti ng means including plvotally mounted'lzii nks arranged to swingabout a: transverse axis; said panel andlinks having pivotal connecting means the axis of which: is parallel tothe first said axis, said means being. movable firom from to reznrinconsequence 0f angular movement of said links about the first. saidaxis, hording dam K" fiastenmitb the ms 10 r of saici sides an'delements earkieri by szti'd- Pa ne MM zirmngecli-to ceactwith saidho'lcb ipg elevk'es td 110M said panel iii a 'sfibsfanv tmlly horizontalposition;

signatures;

r I VFRITHEQF: PET R ON; DAVID;R.IGOLLIER.Y

Copies ofthis pteptbe obtainei fol-five cents eadlrgbykddre ssi ng .tke"ffiommissioner of Patents,

Washingtom-D. CL

